Vilnius

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Day 8-9 (May 10-11)

A four hour journey by local bus took us from Klaipeda to Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. Vilnius is a place with many churches and preserved buildings. It has one of the oldest universities (1500’s).

The next day we visited the old capital at Trakai about an hour away, and it’s feudal castle and museum surrounded by a lake. Rather amused by the three dimensional picture of a royal speaking from one of the rooms.

My room-mate and I found a great place by the river for a leisurely lunch of local fare - a zeppelin. This was minced pork surrounded by potato and boiled together then covered with a garlic sauce, and we lashed out on desert also (our excuse being that we didn’t want to end up with too much local currency over) - I had a poppy seed strudel.

The area we lunched in was located in Uzupis which is a part of Vilnius where they had nominally declared independence. Our waiter had the constitution on the back of his t-shirt and I spent a fair bit of time staring at his back. The group returned here later and quite a few of the t-shirts were purchased. I like the principles they espouse:

Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone.
Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
Everyone has the right to die, but it is not a duty.
Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
Everyone has the right to individuality.
Everyone has the right to love.
Everyone has the right to be not loved, but not necessarily.
Everyone has the right not to be distinguished and famous.
Everyone has the right to be idle.
Everyone has the right to love and take care of a cat.
Everyone has the right to look after a dog till one or the other dies.
A dog has the right to be a dog.
A cat is not obliged to love its master, but it must help him in difficult times.
Everyone has the right to sometimes be unaware of his duties.
Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not a duty.
Everyone has the right to be happy.
Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
Everyone has the right to be silent.
Everyone has the right to have faith.
No one has the right to violence.
Everyone has the right to realize his negligibility and magnificence.
Everyone has the right to encroach upon eternity.
Everyone has the right to understand.
Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
Everyone has the right to be of various nationalities.
Everyone has the right to celebrate or not to celebrate his birthday.
Everyone shall remember his name.
Everyone may share what he possesses.
No-one can share what he does not possess.
Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
Everyone is capable of independence.
Everyone is responsible for his freedom.
Everyone has the right to cry.
Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
No-one has the right to make another person guilty.
Everyone has the right to be personal.
Everyone has the right to have no rights.
Everyone has the right to not be afraid.
Do not defeat.
Do not fight back.
Do not surrender.

After lunch we climbed up to see the monument with 3 crosses that had been restored in 1989 after having been blown up by the Soviets in 1950. It was a steep climb (of 78 steps which we knew because our leader has a penchant for counting things) and were rewarded with a great view over Vilnius. We took the bush track back, hoping we wouldn’t slip over the edge or that at least a tree at the bottom would break our fall (a little adventure for the day).

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